The Many Benefits of Singing!

Sara Crawford, author and musician from Marietta, Georgia, details important benefits including releasing endorphins to reducing blood pressure, community and cultural development to helping people with Parkinson's Disease.

"Anyone who loves to sing will probably tell you how good it makes them feel. It’s no secret that singing reduces stress, improves your mood, and generally brings more fun into your day. But there are many different physical, emotional, social, and psychological benefits associated with singing that you may not realize."

Daniel Nass writes about the fascinating study done connecting electric nodes and breathing belts to singers and audience members to see how performing and listening to music affects our health. This is a groundbreaking study worth checking out!

"Earlier this year a research team from the Royal College of Music's Centre for Performance Science gathered data from a concert of music by Eric Whitacre. There were two primary questions for which the research team hoped to find answers..."

London-based, Sarah Rainey (pictured above), talks about her experience and that of many many others who have joined choirs and are singing regularly. There are several benefits mentioned and references to studies done.

"After years of singing in the shower and warbling my way through karaoke duets, 18 months ago I finally joined a choir. Every Thursday evening, I head to a church hall in Marylebone, central London, where, along with 30 others – mostly women, the occasional bloke – I spend 90 minutes belting out Motown, gospel and pop classics, from Abba to Bon Jovi."

Sarah Klein doesn't disappoint with some surprising benefits of singing that we would never have thought of. Some include helping to improve the immunity in cancer patients and aiding in the alleviation of snoring!

"For many of us, our formal singing experience begins—and ends—with a quasi-traumatizing school choir. But believe it or not, more than 32 million American adults sing regularly in some 270,000 different groups nationwide according to Chorus America, an advocacy group for the singing field. While you may feel more than a little silly taking your performances..."

Here are more benefits of choral singing. A surprising benefit was that it increases life expectancy citing a study done with a choir in Connecticut. Sounds good to us!

"Research has shown for some time that singing in a choir has tremendous benefits for physical and mental well-bing, leading some to campaign for it to be prescribed as a treatment for medical conditions. In addition, recent findings from a study suggest that there are specific benefits related to choral singing which are unique to this pastime."

This is an extensive and detailed list of benefits including the ability to appreciate other singers when listening and the improvement of skin! We weren't expecting that one.

"As you know, singing brings joy to a lot of people around the world. However, do you know that singing can bring other surprising health benefits to us? On a daily basis, most of us frequently join in the expression of music via singing. This is because some of us are aware of the positive health benefits of music."

This article gets a little more into the mental benefits including dementia and Alzheimer's. Fascinating!

"Singing is as old as humanity and may actually predate the development of spoken language. Most of us sing, at least occasionally, vocalizing in the shower or improvising duets with a favorite opera singer or rock star. Millions of people sing in choirs or other groups. Research increasingly shows that singing can also benefit physical and mental health."